This invention relates to the packaging of respiring biological materials.
Respiring biological materials, e.g. fruits and vegetables, consume oxygen (O2) and produce carbon dioxide (CO2) at rates which depend upon the stage of their development, the atmosphere surrounding them and the temperature. In modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), the objective is to produce a desired atmosphere around respiring materials by placing them in a sealed container whose permeability to O2 and CO2 is correlated with (i) the partial pressures of O2 and CO2 in the air outside the package, and (ii) the temperature, to produce a desired atmosphere within the container. In many cases, the container includes an atmosphere control member having a high permeability to O2 and CO2. In controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP), the objective is to produce a desired atmosphere around respiring materials by displacing some or all of the air within a container by one or more gases, e.g. nitrogen, O2, CO2 and ethylene, in desired proportions. Reference may be made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,380 (Bedrosian), U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,542 (Badran), U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,544 (Badran et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,333 (Cummin et al), U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,010 (Erb), U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,728 (Rath), U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,324 (Hill), U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,524 (Wade), U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,863 (Jones), U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,875 (Anderson), U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,078 (Antoon), U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,032 (Antoon), U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,703 (Antoon), U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,745 (Harris), U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,290 (Wallace et al.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,331 (Antoon), U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,753 (Woodruff), U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,768 (Antoon), U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,354 (Stewart), U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,394 (Herdeman), U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,335 (Raudalus et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,841 (Herdeman), U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,658 (Raudalus et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,607 (Herdeman) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,293 (De Moor), copending commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/759,602 (Clarke et al.) and Ser. No. 09/121,082 (Clarke et al.), International Publication Nos. WO 94/12040 (Fresh Western), WO 96/38495 (Landec) and WO 00/04787 (Landec), and European Patent Applications Nos. 0,351,115 and 0,351,116 (Courtaulds). The disclosure of each of these patents, applications and publications is incorporated herein by reference.
The preferred packaging atmosphere for a respiring material often depends on the age of the material and the changes (if any) in the material which are desired. For example, the preferred O2 content during storage of unripe fruits is substantially lower than the preferred O2 content during subsequent ripening at a higher temperature. This fact causes problems for both MAP and CAP. For example, in MAP, although the O2 permeability of the container generally increases with temperature (especially if it contains an atmosphere control member comprising a crystalline polymer having an appropriate melting point, as disclosed in U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/759,602 and 09/121,082 and International Publication Nos. WO 96/38459 and WO 00/04787), the increase is often insufficient to avoid the need for significant compromise between the preferred atmospheres at different stages. In CAP, it is theoretically possible to monitor the packaging atmosphere and to change it as often as is necessary to maintain the preferred level of O2 (and other gases). But this is difficult and expensive, and often impractical.
Many fruits are picked when they are unripe; transported and stored under conditions which prevent or retard ripening; and ripen shortly before sale. Many fruits ripen more rapidly when exposed to ethylene, and some (e.g. bananas, tomatoes, avocados, Bartlett pears, kiwis, melons, peppers and mangos) are ripened commercially by exposure to ethylene in ripening rooms. When the fruits have been placed in a sealed bag or other container for transport or storage, the container is opened to expose the fruits to the ethylene. Another problem associated with the use of ripening rooms is that the fruits can ripen too rapidly, especially when the fruits ripen through a climacteric and therefore undergo a very large increase in respiration rate and generate heat in the ripening room.
The transport, storage and ripening of bananas present particularly serious problems because
(i) bananas are grown in locations far distant from the locations at which they are consumed;
(ii) they are damaged by storage at temperatures below about 14° C. (57-58° F.), with the extent of the damage depending upon the time spent below that temperature and how far the temperature is below 14° C.;
(iii) they ripen through a climacteric, and this results in a very large increase in respiration rate and the generation of heat;
(iv) they generate ethylene as they ripen, and they ripen at a rate which increases with the concentration of ethylene around them—as a result, a single prematurely ripe banana can trigger premature ripening of many others; and
(iv) once they have ripened, and have been exposed to air, they rapidly become over-ripe.
These problems have not yet been solved. The conventional procedure is to harvest the bananas when they are hard, green and unripe; to transport the green bananas, at 14-18° C. to the location where they will be consumed; to ripen the green bananas by exposing them to ethylene in a ripening room at that location; and to place the ripened bananas on sale. The time at which the bananas are harvested depends on the days needed to transport them to the point-of-sale. Thus bananas are typically harvested at week 11 (i.e. 11 weeks after the flower emerges from the plant) or week 12. The green bananas are shipped in bags made of polyethylene about 0.04 to 0.06 mm (1.5-2.5 mil) thick, with each bag containing about 18 kg (40 lb) of bananas and being supported by a cardboard box. In some cases, after the bananas have been placed in the bag, most of the air is exhausted from the bag, and the bag is then sealed; this is the procedure generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,542 (Badran). In other cases, the bag contains vent holes.
This conventional procedure suffers from a number of problems, for example:    1. The need to harvest the bananas a good while before they are fully grown. It would be desirable to harvest the bananas at a later time, when they are larger. However, the later the bananas are picked, the more likely it is that their climacteric will be triggered by small concentrations of ethylene. Experience has shown that if bananas are harvested later than the presently established timetables, this results in prematurely ripe bananas when the bananas are shipped in vented bags, and in so-called “green-ripe” bananas when the bananas are shipped in sealed bags. Green-ripe bananas soften, but remain green, and have an unpleasant flavor.    2. In order to ripen green bananas in a ripening room, it is necessary to open each of the shipping bags if the bags have been sealed during shipping.    3. Bananas ripen very rapidly, which heats the bananas excessively and/or increases the demand on the refrigeration equipment used to cool the ripening room.    4. The bananas, once ripened, must be sold within a few days, or scrapped.